Because You Loved Me
by danieloquence
Summary: A fluffy oneshot based on the Celine Dion song. No lyrics, just some SamnDanny for you shippers out there.


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Because You Loved Me  
A Danny Phantom one-shot

By Charli Jay

_**Author's Note: **I wrote this one a year or two ago, before I was certain that lyrics were not allowed to be included. Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me" was the inspiration for this story, so the title credit goes to her (not that she'll read it). All the Danny Phantom credit goes to good old Mr. Hartman. You know the rest. Read and enjoy. :_

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Failed a geometry test, got tripped by a beautiful snob, and came home to the phone call that changed her life forever. And that, my friends, was her day, merely one week ago.

Sam Manson - a gothic girl with expressive violet eyes and a style all her own - sat alone on the front steps that were like home to her – she didn't want to leave. She had run up and down those stone pieces so many times she couldn't bear to count. No, they weren't the ones leading to the double doors of the family mansion – they were the Fentons' front steps, the steps of her childhood and the steps of her early adolescence. The stones that held them together had been worn in corners from the scuffing of eager children's tennis shoes, and the stomping of angry teenagers' boots and sneakers. The bits of grass peeking up through the cracks in the sidewalk that Sam's gaze had fallen upon. A misty haze covered her viewpoint as she waited, in silence, for any kind of sign.

Inside that house, her very best friend had become violently ill and hadn't left his bed in an entire week. Danny Fenton, the only person in the world who she felt understood her, was now in dire need of her help, and she couldn't do a thing. The helplessness was consuming her outlook on things as the seconds turned to minutes and the minutes to hours and the hours to days. She refused to let days turn to weeks, she had decided that early on. But sitting on those steps when summer was so near was not how she wanted to spend her sunny days. Today wasn't that sunny, however, and gray clouds loomed over Amity Park – lighter than the ones over her heart, though. With her pale face resting in her hands, she whispered a soft, desperate prayer – the first, second only to the day her parents split. She felt like God had completely turned on her. But hey, if she could bargain with him for Danny's life – that's what she was gonna do.

Mid-prayer and six whispered sentences later, a breeze began to blow through Sam's dark hair. Tears filled her eyes, for the first real time that day, and she let them spill over as the rain began to fall. Somehow, Sam thought, God was crying too. How could she lose the only person she ever felt truly attached to? Even her parents didn't mean as much to her. Whether that was good or bad was undecided. She moved her hands slightly so both sides of her face were covered but she could speak and breathe. In her grief, she did the best thing she felt she could do, with Danny's window open and the wind in her favor – sing. A new kind of feeling washed over Sam as she sang the words to the song louder and more passionately. The feeling that she was going to lose the one she _loved_. She hadn't mentioned that to him, and felt a little stupid for it. But things would get better. She hoped so hard they would, anyhow.  
She kept singing despite her thoughts, and hoped she would be allowed to see Danny soon at least...

Sam's brooding, soulful voice was met with another scratchy voice as she sang, and she stopped short. It was such a familiar voice that she almost choked with a mixture of shock and joy. She leapt up from the steps and looked into the open window overhead.

"Hi," said a weak boyish voice – Danny's.

"HI!" Sam said excitedly, leaping over the steps in a pure rush of adrenaline, just to get beneath his window.

"I... I miss you," he said, in a raspy voice that was being forced above a whisper.

"I miss you too," she said quickly, "how are you feeling?"

"The tiniest bit better – it's so strange. This morning all I wanted to was die, but something just kept me going." Danny said, leaning on his windowsill.

"I said a prayer for you," Sam said sheepishly. If ghosts were more than a myth – who was to say that God couldn't exist?

Danny smiled down at her, weakly. "Maybe my strength came from you, then," he whispered.

She smiled up at him. "Nah. It wasn't me. It was Somebody else." she said surely.

Just then, Mrs. Fenton burst into Danny's room. "What are you doing out of bed, Danny dear?" she asked, concerned.

"Talking to Sam, Mom," he said, trying his hardest to be patient. His optimism shone in everything and Sam felt warm as he mentioned her name. It was good to know, even in little ways, she meant something to him, too.

Mrs. Fenton appeared in the window. "Come on up, Sam, it's not contagious anymore."

Sam took off like a bullet and practically tumbled through the door and up the stairs to Danny's room. She made it through his door and Mrs. Fenton passed her with a smile through the doorway. Sam slowed her pace a bit and walked over to Danny's bedside. A tray of multiple items was set next to him on his nightstand.

"Forgive the mess," Danny teased in a raspy voice, "I've been pretty busy."

Sam burst into laughter, a release of her pent-up emotion. She sat cross-legged and stared at Danny's tired – but still smiling – face a few feet away. He smiled weakly again.

"Sam, can you do me a favor?" he asked softly.

"Anything," Sam replied, ready to jump to her feet.

"Can you finish your song? Your voice helps me to fall asleep." Danny asked sheepishly.

"Of course I can," she smiled back at him. Then she sat on the end of his bed, and sang softly – and everything inside of her heart came out with the music, washing her affection all over the floor and onto Danny's peaceful, sleeping face.


End file.
